New minister brings a positive outlook to Everett Unity

Annie Mulligan / For The Herald
Reverend Julie Montague speaks during her first service at the Unity Center for Positive Living in Everett on Sunday, Sept. 1. Rev. Montague is replacing Bob Eagan, who is retiring after over 25 years at the center.
Photo taken 090113

Annie Mulligan / For The Herald
Reverend Julie Montague speaks to parishoners during her first service at the Unity Center for Positive Living in Everett on Sunday, Sept. 1.
Photo taken 090113

Annie Mulligan / For The Herald
Reverend Julie Montague is greeted by a fellow parishoner during her first service at the Unity Center for Positive Living in Everett on Sunday, Sept. 1. Rev. Montague is replacing Bob Eagan, who is retiring after over 25 years at the center.
Photo taken 090113

Annie Mulligan / For The Herald
Parishoners join hands at the Unity Center for Positive Living in Everett on Sunday, Sept. 1.
Photo taken 090113

Annie Mulligan / For The Herald
Reverend Julie Montague prepares for her first service at the Unity Center for Positive Living in Everett on Sunday, Sept. 1. Rev. Montague is replacing Bob Eagan, who is retiring after over 25 years at the center.
Photo taken 090113

Annie Mulligan / For The Herald
Reverend Julie Montague speaks during her first service at the Unity Center for Positive Living in Everett on Sunday, Sept. 1. Rev. Montague is replacing Bob Eagan, who is retiring after over 25 years at the center.
Photo taken 090113

Annie Mulligan / For The Herald
Reverend Julie Montague speaks to parishoners during her first service at the Unity Center for Positive Living in Everett on Sunday, Sept. 1.
Photo taken 090113

Annie Mulligan / For The Herald
Reverend Julie Montague is greeted by a fellow parishoner during her first service at the Unity Center for Positive Living in Everett on Sunday, Sept. 1. Rev. Montague is replacing Bob Eagan, who is retiring after over 25 years at the center.
Photo taken 090113

Annie Mulligan / For The Herald
Parishoners join hands at the Unity Center for Positive Living in Everett on Sunday, Sept. 1.
Photo taken 090113

Annie Mulligan / For The Herald
Reverend Julie Montague prepares for her first service at the Unity Center for Positive Living in Everett on Sunday, Sept. 1. Rev. Montague is replacing Bob Eagan, who is retiring after over 25 years at the center.
Photo taken 090113

EVERETT -- For her first service as minister at the Everett Unity church Sept. 1, Julie Montague focused her message on positive introductions.She talked about how when people open a new book, they have a positive intent, she said. She wants parishioners to hold that same attitude toward their church, and toward each other.People must always focus on "growing beyond where they are," she said. That's how they become the next, better version of themselves.Montague, 58, comes to Everett from a Unity church in White Rock, B.C. She lives in Whatcom County but hopes to move closer to work. She was born and raised in Seattle and has lived around the country. She's worked in banking and in hotels, and her husband works for another Unity church.Up to 100 people attend Sunday services at the Unity church on Colby Avenue, Montague said. She was drawn to the job after meeting the church's leaders and members of the congregation.People there "work together and support each other and love each other, and it's really delightful," she said. It's a place without cliques or politics, she said."Some of the warmest, kindest, most loving people I have met anywhere go to that church," she said. "I have felt so welcome."Montague is fourth-generation Unity member. Her great-grandmother began collecting the church's publications while she had tuberculosis and later helped form a branch in Seattle. Her grandmother became steeped in the faith."My mom was raised in Unity. I was raised in Unity. My kids were raised in Unity," she said. "It's unusual for Unity because Unity is usually a denomination people find, usually later in life."Unity attracts people by appealing to their intelligence and their hearts, Montague said. Its followers seek to understand faith, and to work with God to create a better life and a better self."My goal is always to be the highest expression of unconditional love that I could be in the world, and to support people right where they are," she said. "Usually if I do that, everything else kind of takes care of itself."For more information about Everett Unity, call 425-258-2244, visit www.everettunity.org or email everettunity@frontier.com.Rikki King: 425-339-3449, rking@heraldnet.com.

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